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Bren (Light machine gun)

Bootie

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Bren

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The Bren Gun was Britain's primary light machine gun of WWII. It was adopted by the British army in 1935 to replace the aging Lewis Gun. It fired .30 caliber rounds at a rate of 500rpm. The disadvantages of the weapon were that it fired much slower than its German counterparts, and it only accepted box or drum magazines, which meant more frequent reloading than belt fed machine guns.
Its weight also stretched the definition of "light" machine gun, often requiring it to be partially disassembled and its parts carried by two soldiers when on long march. Despite these shortcomings, it was popular with British troops, and respected for its high reliability and combat effectivenes. It was manufactured by the Enfield armory, and is still in use in modified forms by the British military today.
 
I remember watching a video where a guy matched a BAR vs Bren and he liked that the clip was up top for ease of loading.

 
I saw a documentary on WWII and they mentioned that some considered the Bren to be too accurate. So that when putting down suppressive fire the bullits were not spread over enough space to have the desired effect. The first time I've heard of a weapon being too accurate.
 
I saw a documentary on WWII and they mentioned that some considered the Bren to be too accurate. So that when putting down suppressive fire the bullits were not spread over enough space to have the desired effect. The first time I've heard of a weapon being too accurate.

Sort of reminds me of the issue the delta guys had in the operation highlighted by the film Black Hawk Down, they were using (someone will correct me here -) titanium rounds that went straight through their targets and left neat little holes - didn't drop the target as well as I am sure they would have wished...
 
I saw a documentary on WWII and they mentioned that some considered the Bren to be too accurate. So that when putting down suppressive fire the rounds were not spread over enough space to have the desired effect. The first time I've heard of a weapon being too accurate.
Yup thats correct, its desirable in a support weapon that it spreads its fall of shot over an area, this is termed as a "beaten zone" it's more about suppressing the enemy than killing them although of course that too is desirable but not the main intent.

The L86A2 also suffered from being too accurate for its role & this was one of the reasons of its replacement with the Minimi L110A2.
 
"Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl", really is Veronica Foster (1922/2000), a Canadian icon representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced arms during the WW2.
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